Well, that’s what the team behind it are hoping… A group of former Google engineers is going up against their ex-employers with a new search engine called Cuil (pronounced “cool”), a word derived from the Gaelic for knowledge.

Cuil uses 120 billion(!) webpages to build up its index of search results, which its makers say is more than Google (although Google adamantly denies this).

The main problem I can see with the new search engine is that is doesn’t transform to a verb as readily as google did. Would you admit to “cuiling” yourself? If you’d like to try, click here.

Via The BBC.

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Apple on Tuesday announced it had fully repaired an e-mail outage in its MobileMe internet service, but some users in Apple support forums were still reporting problems as late as Wednesday morning.

Apple’s MobileMe service offers both e-mail and data synchronization for users, who pay $99 a year for the service. In the two weeks after its July 17 launch, email outages affected 20,000 users, Apple has said. In some cases, users said that they had lost their entire archives of past e-mail messages, as well as not receiving new messages.

In its prior blog announcements, the MobileMe team said 10 percent of mail received between July 16 and 18 may have been lost forever, but the team’s Tuesday posting implies these messages were recovered as well. The team also launched a chat service to aid users still affected.

"We have completed restoring Mail service, including historical messages, to all of the 1% of affected members," the MobileMe blog said. "By completing this restoration of Mail services, we hope we have put the vast majority of MobileMe Mail problems behind us and can now focus on improving other aspects of this new ambitious service."

But some users are unwilling to move on, saying they’re still affected by the outage. In an Apple support forum thread, users are reporting that the status message isn’t true and that they aren’t receiving any help from the chat service.

"I tried to contact them five times and got booted off saying I wasn’t affected," writes forum poster Jonathan Kemp. "My problems followed the EXACT pattern of the mail outage, but even after expaining this was booted out of the chat. I am now left with a 48 hour wait for an email reply or try to contact the US support."

Several other users in the forum thread echoed similar problems. The users say a chat bot scans MobileMe’s records to see which users were affected by the outage, and it kicks those who weren’t. So even if MobileMe has fixed most of its mail problems, its chat bot is buggy, too.

There are also other threads saying mail problems persist. Judging from these users’ comments, it would appear to be an overstatement on Apple’s part to say it had "completed restoring Mail service." Clearly there are still bugs abound in MobileMe, and affected users aren’t going to put their problems behind them until they’re truly resolved. 

See also:

• Apple Spams iphone Users With MobileMe Ad
• Apple Opens Up About Mobile Me Mishap
• Has Apple Bitten Off More Than It Can Chew?
• Apple Apologizes for MobileMe — Again
• Apple Apologizes for MobileMe Debacle

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After a long time of speculation and wondering, the deal has officially been completed. Sirius and XM have formed as one company and are now using the uninspired sounding name of Sirius XM Radio.

As we saw the merger had its ups and downs and times when it looked like it was never going to happen, we saw the DOJ give their seal of approval back in March, and then the news kind of died down a little bit. Then finally the FCC gave their seal of approval late last week and now things seem to be quick moving again.

As part of the merger, any existing radios will continue to work and subscribers can continue on with their current plans, but personally I am more looking forward to see those new a-la-carte style plans that we have heard mentioned. Well, that and some new Sirius XM Radio branded hardware.

Read [Sirius]

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Okay, time for something that everybody wants to read about, the jet pack! Back when I was a kid, I longed for the day when everyone would have one of these. Considering that this is the new millennium, I am really disappointed that someone has not mass-marketed these by now.

I believe that we are well on our way to jet pack proliferation with designer Glenn Martin’s model. It isn’t really a jet pack, per se, because there are no jets involved. Martin uses two gasoline-fueled 200 horsepower fans, which make the jet pack louder than a jet plane.

I suppose the lack of flaming afterburners is why Martin says that his jetpack is the safest. Another reason is that it comes with a built-in parachute, which will hopefully be a standard safety feature for every jetpack.

I can imagine that machine-assisted flight is probably one of the greatest thrills technology has to offer. It does cost about $250,000, though.

I hope we will soon come to an era when everybody is flying around on jet packs that are not so expensive. Maybe the skies will be filled with jet packers, and I wonder how long it will take for us to cease to be impressed by it.

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Those who are already rocking on with 802.11N connectivity in their homes or offices can take advantage of higher speeds with the Asus USB-N11 wireless N USB adapter. This tiny marvel comes with a button that when pushed, will create a protected wireless environment without going through the hassle of complicated setups. Don’t worry about using this with older setups, as the Asus USB-N11 is backwards compatible with previous 802.11b/g standards. Since this device is WiFi alliance WPS certified, it will be able to work with any WPS certified router. Measuring 84mm x 21mm x 11mm, this is a snap to tote around.

Source: Far East Gizmos

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The Chinavision CVSJ-1304 is touted to be the thinnest MP4 player in the world, measures a mere 4.5mm thin. Priced at $39.55, the gadget features a 1.8 inch touch screen, with a resolution of 160 x 128, supports to playbacks MP4, MP3, WMA, ASF, and WAV formats. Other features include an FM tuner, a 4GB of memory, a rechargeable battery and USB connectivity.
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by Thomas Ricker, posted Jul 30th 2008 at 2:35AMStep aside HD700, Sanyo just replaced you with its DMX-HD800 720p camcorder. According to Akihabara News who is attending the launch event, the HD800 features a “HUGE step forward in video quality” coupled with reduced noise thanks to Sanyo’s 3DDNR filter. Spec-wize, we’re looking at an 8.0 megapixel 1/2.5-inch CMOS sensor, SD/SDHC support, 5x optical zoom, 2.7-inch LCD, face tracking, and easier to use drag-and-drop to pull AVC/H.264 video from the camera to your PC. We’ll have to wait for the reviews to know for sure but it looks like Sanyo just made one of the best 720p camcorders even better. On sale in Japan on August 22nd for ¥50,000 (about $463).

[Via Impress]

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by Thomas Ricker, posted Jul 30th 2008 at 5:05AM
Sure, you’ve read the KickStart 8220 preview and seen plenty of snaps, but video is still the only way to demonstrate some features of a device. Especially when it’s not yet available in shops. Fortunately, Kevin Michaluk over at CrackBerry put together almost 9-minutes of moving pictures demonstrating two-handed Suretype thumbing, the 8220’s more deeply inset trackball, and slick OS 4.6 action. He even went head-to-head with the iphone 3G to demonstrate the KickStart’s Internet browser. But enough with the words eh, video after the break.

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If you’re a true blue gaming geek, then the Octane 120 arcade cabinet from Dream Arcades will definitely be the platform of choice. It is based upon a “high end gaming PC”, featuring an integrated projector that throws a 10-foot screen for you to enjoy. In addition to that, it will also boast a kegerator that keeps your beer (or other favorite beverages) ice cold at all times. Heck, there are even a couple of taps - one located by the steering wheel with another behind for easy access to your drinks, and a cup holder by the wheel ensures you don’t have to keep on getting up to get your drink. The Octane 120 can play up to 200 licensed PC titles, PS3 racing games, and other Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 games through the included joystick. Audio is provided via a 5.1 surround sound system in the chassis. You’ll need to fork out a whopping $6,995 for this though.

Source: Gizmodo

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It’s no secret that Apple has been having some problems with their iPhone 3G and MobileMe launch, so it’s not a huge surprise to see another issue come up. There are reports around the web of the plastic shells on the back of the new crop of iPhones beginning to crack. This may be happening on a small number of devices, but for a product as high profile as the iPhone this could be a serious problem. Additionally these phones are just a few weeks old so it could mean larger issues in the future.

At this stage its impossible to tell if this is happening to a few individuals or if it’s a wider spread problem, but the former is more likely given how much testing Apple must have done before choosing that plastic shell. Even so, we’ve seen issues before, like easy-to-scratch ipod displays, and no company is immune from problems like this one. USA Today has an piece on the new iphone with some quotes from analyst Rob Enderle who compares the new iPhone to Windows Vista and says, like Vista, it feels rushed to market.

More reading is available at MacRumors, Apple, and Engadget Mobile

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